Campaign 2012

Brown, Warren Scrap Over Native American Controversy

In a fight to keep his Senate seat in Massachusetts, Republican Scott Brown lashed out Thursday at Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren, saying she failed the test of “truthfulness and credibility and honesty” as evidenced by her past claims about her Native American heritage.

On Fox News, Brown responded to a statement Warren made about him being too cozy with Wall Street: “When you're running for elective office … you have to pass a test and the test is about truthfulness and credibility and honesty. And quite frankly she's failed that test as evidenced by her claiming to be a Native American and checking the box and making misrepresentations to not only Harvard but Penn.

He added: “She can rewrite her own history but she can’t rewrite mine.”

Warren has been dogged by claims about her Native American heritage. After initially claiming ignorance on the matter, Warren later admitted identifying herself as Native American while on the faculty at Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania. She said she did not use her Cherokee heritage to help get those jobs, but made the claims after she was hired. Her statements have come under criticism because she has thus far been unable to substantiate them.

Warren defended herself on Thursday, however, saying that by concentrating on the Native American controversy, Brown was trying to distract from the issues.

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“It’s a real question about are we going to talk about issues or going to talk about other things,” she said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. “And Scott Brown really doesn't want to have to talk about the issues. He doesn't want to have to talk about what's happening to America's families, what's happening to families here in Massachusetts.”

She also spent time to attack JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and to promote more banking regulations. In order to stimulate economic growth, she said, Congress needs to pass a jobs bill that would boost construction work.

In the Fox interview, Brown touted his bipartisanship and his role as the deciding vote on the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill. “I am not a jobs destroyer like Professor Warren wants to be,” he said.

The latest polling shows the candidates roughly even among Bay State voters. Although President Obama is clearly ahead in Romney’s home state, the Senate race will likely be close.